Messy Mom Monday

Today I’m linking up with Brittany and Jess for Messy Mom Monday. They had the genius idea of doing a link up where we can all show off just what our houses really look like on a Monday morning. Because here’s the truth. Kids are messy. They make houses messy. And as moms, sometimes we forget that every other mom is in the same boat.

So here’s we go. I’m coming clean. Or, um, messy.

First up, we’ve got the blankets that are constantly strewn from the blanket box in an effort to make a bed for the babies. If you look closely, you may see one baby sleeping on the blankets. If I had of timed the picture better, you may have even been able to see a busy toddler having a rest in the blanket box, itself. Next, the kitchen counter. Oh, the counter. At any given time there are clean dishes waiting to be put away, piles of recyclables waiting to get carried to the garage and possibly dirty dishes waiting to be washed. Our dishwasher is broken right now, so the dirty dishes appear more regularly than often. And then, the “toy room”. Which should be more accurately described as the “toy corner”, which is located in the dining room. You might look at the photo and think it doesn’t look so bad but let me assure you, this is CLEAN. I took this photo at 8:30 a.m., before she had time to totally destroy everything. By 8:35 a.m.? Totally different story. And yes, Daddy’s lunch box is in the toy corner. Why? Who knows.

Moving on, we’ve got the Christmas decorations. Uh huh. That’s right. I put all of my Christmas stuff away on December 30th. Except, apparently, these two angels and a sleigh full of potpourri on the back of the toilet. And I didn’t even notice until earlier this week. And yes, they’re still out.

And now. The dresser. Oh my goodness. The dresser. My dresser always used to be clean. And tidy. Without random books, bags, paperwork, lonely socks, pants that need to be hemmed, birthday cards and other random junk haphazardly tossed there, only to be forgotten and ignored for months. But, those days disappeared. Long ago. Right about the time when the spare room/office was transformed into a nursery, to be exact. Because now? There is just no where else to stash this stuff. No where. So there it sits. Forever.

And finally, the piece du resistance: the pantry and fridge top. I have been ‘meaning’ to clean out and organize the pantry for weeks. You know. Good intentions. The good thing about using an iPhone to-do list app is how easy it is to send something on today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s to-do list. The bad thing about using an iPhone to-do list app is how easy it is to send something on today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s to-do list. The worst thing about using an iPhoe to-do list app is how easy it is to delete it all together, sit down on the couch and watch Friday Night Lights. So, basically, what I’m saying is, the next time this pantry gets cleaned out and organized will probably be when I’m packing up to move. As Brittany so kindly pointed out, that’s why pantry’s have doors!

There, there. I know you’re all surprised. You thought I was perfect and my house was immaculate. I’m sorry to burst your bubble. Now go on, link up with your own dirty little secrets!

Calling All Christmas Fairies!

This is the part of Christmas that I don’t like.

The cleanup.

Ick. Blech.

I am currently sitting in my house staring at a pile of cardboard from boxes of toys that Evalyn for for Christmas, a billion piles of Christmas decorations waiting to be boxed up and put back into the storage room, a cupboard full of Christmas dishes that need to be swapped for our regular dishes, two piles of gifts that are looking for a home, and floors that are in desperate need of a good vacuum, swiffer and mop.

And yet, here I sit.

Looking at it all.

Wishing that it would clean itself up.

I was (not so) secretly hoping that if I gathered everything into tidy piles, the Dude would get the hint and box everything up and help it all find the way to it’s home. But, much to my chagrin, he got home from work last night feeling as though a truck ran over him, so I clearly could not bring myself to ask him to do it.

And now here we are, nearing the end of Eva’s first nap of the day and none of the piles have been touched.

Granted, I haven’t been entirely lazy this morning. I did make some phone calls, reorganize the baby’s armoire, make my bed, and sip away at a cafe mocha – but I have not even begun to tackle the daunting task of putting away.

I’m calling ALL Christmas Fairies to sweep in and put my house back in order.

N-R-G!

It is amazing how much difference a good night's sleep can make to your energy level after having weeks, and weeks, and weeks, of crappy sleep. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I woke up this morning and feeling refreshed, looked at the clock to discover it said 5:56. Granted, I wasn't pumped about being wide awake just before 6 am but I was pumped about being wide awake for the first time all night just before 6 am!

I woke up starving so got up for a bowl of cereal and thought I would crawl back in bed but I didn't even feel the slightest bit sleepy, so up and at 'em I was!

It is now 8:30 and so far I have gotten up, unloaded and reloaded the dishes, eaten breakfast (twice), gotten dressed, made the Dude's coffee and breakfast, vacuumed the whole apartment, swiffered the living room, mopped the kitchen, dining room and bathroom, and put a load of laundry in.

Like whoa. What's going on here? Who is this girl and what has she done with Lazy Lucy?

My cold feels like it's all gone and I feel like I'm ready to tackle the day! I can feel a cool breeze floating in from the patio door, for the first time in a while, so I'm about to head out to take Nika for a long walk.

Then I'll get ready and head to town for groceries. My SIL and I are having a big freezer cooking day tomorrow so I've got to stock up! And then my mom and I are planning on doing a bit of canning next week so I need some supplies for that. I'm spending the afternoon visiting with a friend and doing some more organization in the baby's room.

I hope everyone has a great Friday. Don't forget, today is the last day to enter my giveaway. I'll announce the winner this evening at 6 pm.

Before Baby Nesting Projects

First things first, I must mention that today is a SPECIAL day. Today, my mumma turns 50!!! Everyone give a great big shout out and a Happy Birthday to the Old Girl! Love you Mumma.

Now that my thesis defense is all done and over with, I have the next 3 months or so to prepare for the arrival of the Bambino. I am going to be working a little bit but I will have quite a lot of downtime. I am hoping to maximize the time off, avoid boredom and keep myself organized and actually doing something, so I have prepared a fairly lengthy list of tasks that I hope to accomplish in our home before the big event. Most of these relate to transforming our space to accommodate the baby. I am planning on keep track of this list on my sidebar so I can cross off each job as it gets finished. I'm sure many of the tasks will be blogged about. Some of the jobs are just for me to do, some are just for the FD, and some will be a joint effort. I'm committed to getting a lot done over the next three months so that when the baby comes I won't feel like there are tons of jobs left unfinished that may never get done.

• Empty and clean/reorganize all drawers in kitchen
• Organize laundry room: including pulling out everything and replacing the floor, clearing off and organizing shelves, re-purposing plastic storage drawers
  
• Transform 2nd room from spare bedroom/office to baby's room - definitely the biggest job!
  
• Replace flooring in baby's room
• Purge and condense scrapbooking supplies
• Empty desk and sort through what needs to be kept and what needs to go
  
• Find a new home for filing cabinet
• Organize books on bookshelf into books to keep out, books to pack away, books to give away
• Possibly find new home for bookshelf
• Organize top shelf of both of our closets
• Clean out and organize junk drawer in FD's dresser, and drawers of our bedside tables
• Go on a short and sweet "babymoon" together - already done! Maybe we'll get to sneak in another one.
  
• Transform shelves in armoire to a "closet" for baby's room
• Build baby's change table
• Stock freezer with pre-made meals so we can survive the first few weeks postpartum without starving to death
  
• Make a baby wrap using Jen's instructions
  
• Get armoire and change table painted (we were going to do this ourselves but we got the hook ups for some free professional painting)
  
• Pick strawberries and blueberries (freeze and preserve some)
  
• Do some canning: bbq onions, salsa, jam, diced tomatoes, pickled beets, dill pickles, red pepper relish

What do you think? Can we get it all done?

Ready ... set ... GO!

Friday's Bullet List

Here are some random tidbits that I want to share with you on this fine, sunny Friday morning...

• Pregnancy hormones and country music do not mix. On my way to school the other day, Alan Jackson's song "Remember When" came on the radio. Now, let me admit, this song can get to me at the best of times. But, folks, I was a blubbering fool! When he sang the line "Remember when old ones died and new were born, And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged" I nearly had to pull over! Seriously folks, not cool.
  

• We have absolutely no plans for this weekend. This, my friends, is perfection and something that has not happened in a long, long time.

• To answer a few of your questions about the laundry detergent post - I haven't really had any major stains to deal with since I started using it, so I cannot really speak to how well it would do. As Taryn mentioned in her reply in the comment section, she still pre-treats stains, just as she would with regular detergent. Washing soda is not hard to find. It should be available in the cleaning section at any store. I shred the soap with a fine cheese grater. I will definitely be investing in a cheese grater that is for this purpose and this purpose alone. It is kind of hard to get the soap residue off the grater. I do not like soap flavored cheese.

• I haven't been able to get into Idol this season. I think because the contestants are, um, not so good. But, I did tune in for the last 15 minutes last night just to see who was getting sent home. Am I the only one who felt super super bad for Haeley during her goodbye song? Seriously ... "The Climb" ... could there be a worse song to have to sing right after you got kicked off of American Idol? I think contestants should avoid those types of songs just for the sheer fact of how hideous it will be if they get kicked off and have to sing it. Evan was laughing at her while I was nearly in tears and wanted to wrap her up in my arms and tell her it would be okay.
  

• Remember in my post yesterday how I told you I have been having some crazy dreams? They just don't stop. Last night I dreamed that I was in my high school auditorium with MckMama's husband during a piano recital. MckMama was playing a song she wrote for her unborn baby and when she was done they announced that I would now be playing a song I composed for my unborn baby. Please note: I have not played the piano in over a decade. MckMama's hubby had to help me waddle onto the stage (because I was very pregnant and also very nervous), where I sat at the piano and played the 'song I had composed', which sounded to me an awful lot like Hot Cross Buns. Then, I got up from the piano, gave birth to my baby on the stage, stood up, took a bow and walked off the stage??? This is the second dream I have had about giving birth in a very strange location. However, neither of these dreams were quite as whacked up as the one where my baby became an alien inside of me and transferred some unknown disease to me causing me to be quarantined to solitary confinement lest I pass the disease to other pregnant women. I'm wondering what it is about pregnancy that makes my dreams so crazy. Or, does it have anything to do with pregnancy at all? Does anyone remember the hippos flying on celery dream?

The weather is beautiful here. I hope it's beautiful where you are also. I am planning on getting outside for a big walk later today and tomorrow and Sunday as well! My fingers are crossed that spring has really sprung! Happy Friday my sweet friends!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

A long, long time ago I started making homemade fabric softener. I am still using this, although I don't use it as fabric softener - I use it as dryer sheets, by dipping a rag into it, wringing it out and tossing it in the dryer with each load. Ever since I made that, I had planned on making homemade laundry detergent when I ran out of the store bought stuff that I had. I had all the supplies on hand to make it, but I didn't need to start until a few weeks ago because first my mom bought a high efficiency set and gave me a few containers of detergent that she couldn't use and then my aunt did the same. I ended up with about a year's worth of free laundry detergent, which was great. Thanks Mom and Shelley!

A few months ago, though, I came to the end of this supply so I decided it would be a great time to try making my own. I put together a small batch, so I could see how I liked it. I made enough to last about a month and was quite pleased with the results, so this time, I made four times as much, so that it will last me quite a bit longer in between making batches. It is so cheap and easy to make. The only tedious part is grating the soup. But, I just do it while watching TV (or better yet, ask the FD to do it for me) and it's no problem at all!

It cost me between $10-15 to buy all the ingredients (a large box of borax, a large box of washing soda, and a bulk package of Ivory soap) and this will give me enough to make at least 5 batches of detergent (based on 2 bars of ivory per batch, 10 bars in the package). At that point, I will still have lots of borax and washing soda left but I will need to restock on bar soap.

What you will need:

Homemade Laundry Detergent - from Tereasa and Taryn
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
4 cups finely shredded gentle soap - I use Ivory (One shredded bar equals approx. two cups)

Mix all ingredients together in a large air tight container and store in your laundry room.

I use two tablespoons of the mixture per large load and one tablespoon for a small load.

February Goal Review and March Goals

Welcome, March! Please bring Spring with you. Thank you.

February was a big month here in our household! Now it's time to go back and see how I did with my goals amidst the excitement of telling all our loved ones that we're on our way to becoming parents.

1. School goals: Mark my student's first assignment in a timely fashion (i.e. within one week). Mark their presentations within 24 hours of seeing them. Complete analysis and begin writing discussion chapter. Mark midterms. Wow, busy month!

First assignment has been marked, recorded and handing back. Presentations are marked and results given. My analysis is complete and a draft of my discussion chapter will be e-mailed to my advisor this afternoon. Midterms were marked over reading week (last week). I will record their marks and give them back to the Prof. to hand back to students later this week.

2. Travel to Ohio to stand up in our dear friend's wedding. And do some other super fun exciting stuff while we're there. ;) ....you'll have to wait and see what we've got planned.

We sure did! Check out this post to see a recap on the wedding weekend which also included A SUPER FANTASTICAL BLOGGY MEET UP WITH SHAINA AND JENNY!

3. Get back on track with menu planning. And not only planning, but menu plan following. January has been weird. And crazy. And my menu plan following and organized grocery shopping has suffered as a result.

I have done pretty good with this this month. I haven't been posting my menu plans as I normally do but I have been making them and trying to stick with them. The reason I got off track in January was because in the early weeks of my pregnancy, cooking was the absolute least appealing activity. That, combined with the tired factor, and I was not in the mood to whip up any amazing meals. I have gotten back into the swing of meal planning, organized shopping and cooking, although our meals have been more subdued than normal.

4. Spend a weekend with Little H while his parents go on vacation.

We had a great time!

5. Continue to exercise at least 3 times per week (usually more).
Hmm ... well ... ugh. Okay, so major fail. The weather has been my excuse. I like to be outside. Snowy weather does not bode well for that. So, therefore, my exercising has suffered. I will get back on track in March!

6. Complete bathroom renovation (I will be posting more about this soon).
Done, done, done. Although this really should not have been on my goal list as I did basically nothing, except watch. The Fabulous Dude did an amazing job with it! Check it out here.

7. BEGIN WATCHING SEASON 6 OF LOST! WOOT WOOT!

I have been watching each episode with my friend, T. She moved last Friday, though, so starting tomorrow, the dude and I will be watching at home. I am so excited that we seem to finally be getting some answers ... kind of?

8. Organize our bedroom closets and dresser drawers.

Wow. The last time I thought about this goal was probably on February 1st when I wrote it. I definitely did not do this. Except I did clean out and rearrange E's tshirt drawer. At this point, I think I will probably wait to do the complete overhaul until when I need to revamp my wardrobe and swap out my regular clothes for maternity wear.

What's up For March:

1. School goals: Finalize discussion chapter, begin conclusion chapter, mark 3 presentations, mark student's second assignment, complete and finalize thesis reference page (for someone as organized as I normally am - I have done a horrible job keeping my reference page up to date as I have worked my way through writing the chapters of my thesis. This is going to be a messy, messy job.)

2. Finish the book of Acts and begin the book of Romans through the Text Project to stay up to date with my through the new testament in a year goal.

3. Welcome a new niece or nephew into our lives ... any day now!

4. Spend a weekend with my mom, sister, SIL, and many girlfriends from church being uplifted at the Beth Moore conference.

5. Begin preparations and planning for our 2010 garden.

What have you got going on in the month of March?

Cleaning Up ... Literally

I have a few "cleaning" questions that I want to ask you and I would greatly appreciate any advice you may have to give.

1. Do any of you have leather furniture? If so, what do you use to clean it? We bought a leather living room set shortly after we got married and then when we got our puppy, I caved into her cute-littleness and always let her snuggle on the couch with me. Now that she is not so little anymore, she still thinks the couch and love seat are her territory. She is usually pretty good at only going on it when her blanket's on there, but I often wake up in the morning to find dusty paw prints from where she had been. Right now I am using Weiman Leather Wipes. They are like wet wipes that you can just wipe the furniture with. They work great but are a wee bit pricey so I'm wondering if there's something else I can use that's either cheaper or possible to make at home.

2. Does anyone have a good dish soap and/or dishwasher soap recipe? I tried making my own dish soap a few weeks ago and it was an epic fail. The stuff did not sud up, and although it cleaned my dishes I had to use a LOT of soap to get the desired effect. Therefore, I went through an entire bottle in less than a week. Not cool.

3. I'm going to try homemade laundry detergent soon. I had fully intended to start making my own way back when I started making my own fabric softener/dryer sheets (which I am still making and using all the time, by the way), but then my mom got a new HE set and had a bunch of detergent left over from before that she couldn't use and passed on to me. I am just now coming to the end of it and am planning on making my own. I've seen a lot of posts about this and I've gathered a few different recipes but I am wondering from those of you who do use homemade laundry detergent, do you prefer liquid or powder? What's better? I've always used liquid detergent but I'm wondering if powder is better for the homemade stuff? Any tips?

4. Lastly, I'm interested in knowing if you have a daily chore list or if you like to do all your house cleaning in one go or if you just don't clean at all. I tend to do all my cleaning all at once because if I do little jobs on a day to day basis, I find that by the time I'm through the cycle, it's all dirty again. However, if I do it all in one shot it takes up a bigger chunk of time and it doesn't last long either. While it's nice to have a fully clean house, I do get frustrated when I spend a whole Saturday morning cleaning and then the house looks like a disaster zone again by Monday. The thing is this - I am a neat freak but I'm not that cleanly.

If you popped by unexpectedly (please please please don't do it because I would be embarrassed) you probably would not find piles of papers scattered throughout the house, dirty dishes piled in the sink, an unmade bed or unfolded laundry. What you would find, however, is a layer of dog hair 6 inches thick on the floor, my hubby's whiskers left over from shaving on the sink and counter and soap scum in the shower. I am not sure why it is that I can't turn a blind eye to the slightest thing out of place in my home but I can ignore a mounting mess of dirt and disustingness. If I know I have company coming later in the week, I just figure there's no point in cleaning two days before or else I will just have to do it again when they come. Clearly, my cleaning "schedule" is not working so well for me and I need to figure something else out. So what works for you?

Mission Accomplished

After spending Friday working on the bathroom cupboards and kitchen pantry, I spent Saturday doing the real work .... the closets and spare room/office/craft room.

First I tackled the bedroom. I am ashamed, embarrassed and disgusted to admit that I was able to get rid of as much as I did while still having clothes on our backs, let alone still having two closets and two dressers full. As I was in midst of this task, the fabulous dude came in and said, "I'm not going to let you shop as much". Umm, ya think?

There isn't much explaining to do except to tell you that I went through every single thing we own and held nothing back.

So, here goes nothing.

The before...

The during (this was a must-get-worse-before-it-gets-better project)...

The after...

Now, to show you exactly how much of a difference there is I am going to show you the stuff that I got rid of. Again, as I said at the outset of this post, I am embarrassed that it was even possible for me to get rid of this much stuff. Please don't judge. This picture includes the stuff that I am giving away. It does NOT include the stuff that I just threw out. There wasn't much that was garbage worthy, but some stuff like socks, underwear, old work clothes was tossed.

Are you ready? Everything on the bed is what is being given away...

Here it is all packed up and labeled according to who/where it is going to...

The coolest part about this is that after writing my first post indicating that I was going to be purging my closets, someone contacted me and let me know of an individual who is really in need of clothing who is about the same size as me. So, the majority of my clothes were packed up for her with the exception of a few things that I'm sending to my sister. The FD's stuff was packed up for either my BIL or to be donated. One bag is trash and the box has housewares and other items that are to be donated.

Above and beyond clothes I got rid of a bunch of stuff that had been hanging out on the shelves of the closets. When I was sorting through these items (most were sentimental in some way) I asked myself, "If this belonged to my mom, would I want to have it now?" If the answer was yes, then I kept it for my future children. The rest was placed in the to-go pile if I have no purpose for it.

I feel so great after completing this task. First of all, I am thrilled to know that I will be able to bless someone else with the items that I no longer need. Second, this task has given me a renewed appreciation for all that I have! I am certainly not in want.

After the bedroom was done, I headed to the spare room.

Before

After

Not much to say except there was a lot of junk kicking around that is now gone. The only problem? Lots of stuff was just placed inside the craft cabinet instead of around it.

I guess I know what I'm doing this afternoon...

This post is being linked up to Organizing Junkie's Surface and Shelf Organizing post!

Spring Cleaning Part One - Bathroom Cupboards and Kitchen Pantry

Here we go!! After I wrote the post about the organizing that I was planning to do this weekend, I got straight to work. Yesterday I was able to tackle the bathroom cupboards, the pantry and the spice cupboard. And then to celebrate hubby and I went on a lovely date last night for fish and chips. Has anyone else noticed that I tend to grab every and any possible chance to "celebrate" something by eating? Hmmm...

Anyway, I'm going to let you know and how and what I did with these two spaces.

If I am supposed to be the neat freak in our family and the fabulous dude is supposed to be the slob then can somebody please explain to me why his side of the bathroom cupboard looks like this...
And mine looks like this?

(This photo was taken on a good day and I realize that it does not really demonstrate how bad it can be sometimes).

The truth is, I might be a neat freak but only so far as people can see. Yes, behind closed doors ... oh if you only knew. I am messy, disorganized and a clutter bug. When I packed for Scotland I decided that any makeup I did not take was going in the garbage. If I was able to manage without something for nearly two weeks then I probably don't need it. So, aside from one compact that I did not take because it was too large, everything that was still in my cupboard when I got home went out. So much of this stuff was old and gross anyway. It was it's time.

Here is a long view of my side of the cupboard so you can see that not only my bottom shelf (which holds the stuff I use the most) is cluttered.

Apparently I didn't take a full before shot of FD's side of the cupboard. But, let's just say that his stuff resides only on the bottom shelf and I have all but taken over the middle and top shelf. So, while his bottom shelf looked neat and tidy the top two shelves had a little touch of me on them. It looks like I only took a photo of the top shelf of his side (and not a very good one at that).

I began by emptying my side of the cupboard....

And got to work. I was ruthless. I got rid of anything that I hadn't used in a long time, bottles that were nearly empty but still in the cupboard for some reason, and stuff that was just plain old. I don't like throwing things away. I feel wasteful. There were a few things I kept that would be okay to give away, but for the most part, the stuff I was getting rid of is stuff that you just can't give away to someone. So, I ended up with a box with a few "possibly donatable items" and a bag of trash. Unfortunately, more items made it into the trash. I will have you know, however, that the bottles of hair products, lotions etc., that I was getting rid of, I emptied so that the containers could be recycled. I felt like I was high from all the fruity smells of bubble bath and shampoo! This is what I ended up with...

The bottom shelf on his side looks essentially the same but there is a vast difference in the amount of junk on the next two shelves. I organized the shelves in this way: the bottom shelves contain the items that we use on a daily, or at least weekly basis. The middle shelves contain items that we use less frequently such as "special occasion" hair products, nail care and lotion on my side and medicine, band aids, and Q-tips on his side. The top shelves are reserved for overflow. Any items that were unopened went up there. I discovered that my family and friends must think I am stinky because I have not purchased body wash in over a year and I still have THREE varieties that are unopened in the top cupboard along with two in the shower. So, anything like toothpaste, unopened hair products and extra razor blades are stored up there. That way, when we run out of something, we can take a look on the top shelf to see if we have another one before running out to buy more unnecessary STUFF.

Here are some close up views of the shelves ...

I also cleaned out and re-organized the cupboards under the sink. It was mostly a matter of re-folding and re-stacking towels. I didn't take any photos of that because towels are boring and I don't want you all to see my stash of feminine products. Seriously, a little privacy, please?

After I finished up in the bathroom, I was on a roll so I moved on to the kitchen to tackle the food spaces. Here is what I was looking at:

A close up view of the top shelf so you can see how lovely it really is.

My pantry was bad! Things were stacked anywhere and everywhere and I had no idea what was actually in there. As you can see in the next picture, the pantry is quite deep and so it's often quite difficult to keep track of things as they get pushed to the back all the time.


So I pulled it all out and this is what I found....

See those boxes on the stool? Yup, all pasta. That's right, this lady went ahead and bought SIX boxes of pasta last week. Not because I forgot that I had some already, just because the sale was good. I have a problem.

I organized into categories and got started. First I tackled the baking supplies and the grains/pastas because that is what I have the most of and those are the things that were most sporadically placed in the pantry as I was cleaning it out. Once I got these two categories organized in a way that seems reasonable, this is what I had:

And I was left with the rest of this to find a spot for...

Once I organized the cans into categories, it was not difficult. Here is the finished product:

Grains and pastas on the top shelf. The tall canisters hold pasta to be used and the boxes are in the back. When the canisters are empty, then I will open a box and fill it back up. The other containers behind the peanut butter hold dried goods such as beans, lentils and peas. In the middle, there is a plastic container that is holding the odds and ends such as bags of rice, Kraft Dinner, Mr. Noodles, Side Kicks and so on.

The next two shelves hold the canned goods. Soup, vegetables and beverages (teas, hot chocolates) on the second shelf. The third shelf has beans, tomatoes, sauces, dog treats and powdered packages in the little white container.

The bottom two shelves are baking supplies, which I felt needed the most attention. The very bottom shelf holds my large tubs of flour, specialty flour and seeds/nuts. The large tubs of flour are not big enough to hold an entire bag of flour when I buy it so here's what I do with the excess...


All other baking supplies are on the next shelf up. I re-purposed this basket to hold the baking odds and ends. It used to hold noodles and pasta packages but when I cleaned out the pantry it was holding one package of Mr. Noodles. Not very efficient. I'm sure everything will end up getting lost in there in but it is the best solution I could find for all of those things that are odd shapes and sizes.

Next I moved on to the spice cupboard, which you saw earlier.


The main spices that are used are held on the fridge in magnetic containers. I love these containers but the problem is, I have far more than 12 spices. And, when I buy a spice, the whole package does not fit into these containers so there is always some left over.

So what I did was refill all of these containers and then place the excess of them in a container to go at the back of the cupboard. That way, I know I never need to touch that container when I'm looking for a spice, unless the one in the magnetic container is empty.

The rest of the spice jars were placed back into the white basket and the bags were lined up neatly in the middle. I also made a list (which you can sort of see on the side of the cupboard) of all the spices I have. As well, there is an indication if they are in a jar or bag so when I need to find something, I can quickly tell if a) I have it and b) where to find it. I also straightened up the snack shelf above the spices.


So there you have it. In total this took me about 3 hours to do and I am quite happy with my results. It was calling for rain so the hubby decided to postpone his trip to his folks house until later this evening as roofing would not be in the cards for today anyway. Admittedly, I was very happy with that because it has been months (no exaggeration) since we have had a Friday evening-Saturday morning without any plans. We got take out fish and chips for dinner, ate on a bench at the beach and then went for a walk. This morning, we slept in and now he's going to make me some pancakes for breakfast. He just doesn't know that yet. I'm hoping to be able to commission his help for the clothing purge, but we'll see how that goes. I'll let you know how the next two steps of the spring cleaning go! Happy Saturday!

This post is being linked up to Organizing Junkie's Surface and Shelf Organizing post!